Once again, the internet naysayers have rallied against a new Marvel release, apparently just because they believe anything new and different from the studio must be inherently bad. In this case, I finally found time to watch the Secret Invasion miniseries on Disney+, and I quickly realized that the all-consuming rage and hatred for the series was largely misplaced.

The series deals with the realization by Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) that the Skrulls -- a shapeshifting race of aliens who sought refuge on Earth at the end of Captain Marvel (a few decades ago, in Marvel time) -- have grown to numbers far vaster than he anticipated. And, because he has failed in his promise to find them a new home (with Captain Marvel's assistance), some militant factions of the Skrull community have decided to take Earth as their own -- by force.

That doesn't mean the series deals with Avengers-level battles. In fact, that colorful set of comic-book heroes is largely absent here, occasionally mentioned but never shown. Instead, the series takes more of a spy-thriller approach, producing something more akin to old Cold War stories ... but, in this case, some of the spies can change their appearance and absorb the memories of their captive foes.

The series is dark, tense and violent, and not everyone is who they seem to be. For that very reason, Fury resists the urge to summon help from the Avengers, leaving him and a few allied Skrulls to face the threat alone.

Watch for some familiar faces, though, including Agent Everett Ross (Martin Freeman), Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders) and Jim Rhodes (Don Cheadle). Ben Mendelsohn also returns as Talos, Fury's closest Skrull ally. Newcomers to the franchise include Kingsley Ben-Adir as the rebel Skrull leader Gavrik, Olivia Colman as the British spymaster Sonya Falsworth and Emilia Clark as Talos's grownup daughter G'iah -- she, more than any other, proves vital to the story's endgame.

But, while she, Talos, Gavrik and Rhodes all play major parts in the series, this is truly Nick Fury's spotlight event. No more pulling strings from the shadows; now he is in the forefront, the front lines of the action. And Jackson pulls it off brilliantly.

Of course, being a Marvel production, you have to expect at least one big, CGI-fueled and superpowered battle. It's a bit of a letdown because it breaks the atmosphere so carefully woven to that point. (The CGI isn't always at its best, either, although not so much that it pulls you out of the moment.) The denouement is a bit cheesy, too.

I don't know how Secret Invasion will impact future Marvel productions, but it certainly opens the door for a great deal of future conflict. It also seems likely that G'iah will have a role to play in future storylines, although given the internet's reaction to the series, I suppose that remains to be seen.